Legislation seeks to eliminate UglyRipe restrictions

Three legislators from Pennsylvania are working to help South Florida tomato growers by presenting legislation to remove restrictions on marketing the UglyRipe tomato.

U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa., are co-sponsoring a bill in the senate while Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Pa., is submitting similar legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Congressmen said their work is in response to hundreds of news stories and letters to editors supporting removing Florida Tomato Committee marketing restrictions on the UglyRipe tomato.

The Florida Tomato Committee sets standards on the shape of round tomatoes grown south and east of the Suwannee River and shipped out of Florida from Oct. 10 through June 15.

UglyRipe tomatoes, which look just as their name suggests, received Florida Tomato Committee exemptions for its abnormal size and shape during its first three seasons. The congressmen said the tomatoes saw robust sales nationwide, but did not receive a Florida Tomato Committee exemption its fourth season, which means the different-looking tomatoes cannot be sold nationally.

The lawmakers' bill is called the Agricultural Marketing Success Act of 2005, or the AMS Act. It is to permit identified tomato varieties operating under an enhanced U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection and audit program, the Identity Preservation Program, to be exempt from marketing order restrictions.

Joe Procacci, chairman of Procacci Brothers, a Philadelphia-based grower, said with its ribbed shoulders and concave stem, the UglyRipe is not meant to meet current Florida Tomato Committee standards.

"Cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and Grape tomatoes are exempted from the [Florida Tomato Committee] standards because they cannot possibly be graded by the same standards as the Florida Round tomato," Procacci said. "We bred the UglyRipe for its taste, not its shape."